Skating Around The Law by Joelle Charbonneau

By Selena Robins

In Joelle Charbonneau’s comedy mystery novel,Skating Around The Law, the heroine, Rebecca Robbins is a woman on a mission–to sell the roller rink she inherited in her rural hometown and get back to her life in Chicago. Fast. What she didn’t count on was discovering a dead body head-first in the rink’s toilet. Rebecca must discover the identity of the murderer before she becomes the next victim.

It wasn’t Olivia Newton John’s Xanadu that prompted the author to choose a roller rink for the scene of the crime. Joelle grew up going to roller rinks as her mother is a former World Champion artistic roller skater. A literary agent who specializes in romantic fiction recommended that Joelle write a book with a roller rink as a backdrop. Joelle incorporated a love story, a murder and memorable characters into the plot, and a comedic, sexy, mystery novel was born.

Every good romance novel features a drool-worthy hero, and in Skating Around The Law, said hero is a handsome veterinarian.

“A delightful, top-notch debut mystery with a charmingly witty heroine, a smoking hot hero, and a cast of characters–both animal and human–guaranteed to keep you smiling. Skating Around the Law is a must read for all fans of Janet Evanovich.” ~~Victoria Thompson, author of Murder on Waverly Place

Joelle’s witty prose comes out in full force with a few eccentric, quirky characters–a police department that’s better at gardening than solving crimes, an ex-circus camel named Elwood, and a scarily frisky grandfather.

Researching camels up close and personal presented a challenge for the author. While there are farms in the suburbs of Chicago that have camel rides, those camels have two humps. The camel inSkating Around The Law is a dromedary with only one hump. Thankfully, dromedaries are popular racing animals in the Middle East which made her research incredibly interesting.

Joelle is acquainted with older widows who inspired the frisky Pop character and his storyline. Using her grandfather as a role model, she imagined her grandfather would have been the town’s “catch” if he were to become widowed.

“Let Joelle Charbonneau skate into your imagination with her sparkling mystery featuring a spirited heroine and a small town populated with lively characters. Joelle is a charmer of a writer.” ~~New York Times bestselling author Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Joelle’s theatre and opera background provided great training for creating multi-faceted characters. Her musical talent has enabled her to develop strong hooks, as she strives to keep her scenes focused and moving toward that hook.

“Fast and furiously funny, Skating Around the Law is a cozy with attitude.” ~~Chris Knopf, author of Short Squeeze and the Sam Acquillo Mysteries

Joelle lives in a Chicago suburb with her husband, Andy, and their son, Max. Holding down the fort at home and taking care of an active toddler, she rarely writes behind closed doors. Joelle creates her intriguing plots in the living room while her toddler is napping or sitting cross-legged in bed after he falls asleep. It’s not glamorous, but it gets the job done. From the rave reviews Skating Around The Law is receiving, she’s not only getting the job done, but getting it done extremely well.

“Joelle Charbonneau pulls out all the toe stops in her masterful debut mystery, Skating Around the Law. Fun-filled and rife with small town characters, Skating has a fun mystery, an exciting love interest and is not to be missed.” ~~Carolyn Haines, author of Greedy Bones

No one is more surprised than Joelle that she’s writing books people are calling funny. She was the serious kid in high school and college. When she started her writing journey, she thought she’d be writing serious women’s fiction. Somehow she ended up with a man head first in a toilet and a grandfather who is looking for love in a lot of the wrong places.

“Mystery readers will love the quirky and comic characters in Charbonneau’s debut. Her new sleuth skates circles around cops, clues and small town cranks in this dizzying roller rink mystery.” ~~Ellen Byerrum, author of the Crimes of Fashion Mysteries

Skating Around The Law by Joelle Charbonneau hits the book stores on September 28th.

To learn more about Joelle Charbonneau, please stop by her website:http://www.joellecharbonneau.net/